Ticks are one of the last things you want to find
crawling in your home, infesting your lawn and shrubs or attached to your pets and family
members. These little blood-suckers can be a stubborn pest to eliminate if given a
chance to take hold. In our many years of pest management, we have found that
homeowners usually do a better job in killing ticks than the average pest control
technician. We believe this is because you (the homeowner) only have one house to
concentrate on (instead of twenty per day!) and you also know the habits of your family
and pets. You are familiar with the favorite haunts of your dogs and cats, so
you know where to inspect and treat for ticks. If you want to skip the biology
lesson, go to TICK
ELIMINATION ARTICLE.

Ticks are the only members of the order Acarina that can be recognized without a
microscope. The most easily seen features are the spiracular plates (or stigmatal
plates) which surround the external openings of the respiratory system. These plates
are well developed and large. They are located just outside the bases of the third
and fourth pairs of legs.

Ticks feed only on the blood of vertebrates, making them one of the least favorite
visitors in our homes. Hard ticks and soft ticks are the two major groups that are
pests.

Hard ticks have the capitulum (where the head and mouthparts are located) exposed and
easily visible from the top. The upper side of their body also bears a distinctly
sclerotized shield or scutum. This structure covers most of the upper body surface
in the male tick, but is restricted to a much smaller area (immediately behind the
capitulum) in the female. When a female becomes completely engorged with blood, her
abdomen increases to many times its normal dimensions and the scutum will then appear to
be extremely small in relation to the body size. Male ticks do not become so large
when engorged.

In soft ticks, the body has a rather non-descript sac-like shape. The front
portion of the body extends forward, above and beyond the base of the capitulum, so that
the capitulum is concealed when the tick is viewed from above. Soft ticks of not
have a scutum on the upper side of the body, and the exoskeleton is rather leathery in
texture with a distinctly roughened surface.

Ticks have four stages in their life cycle: egg, larva, nymph and
adult. Mating usually occurs while adult ticks are on the body of the host animal.
The female then drops to the ground and deposits her eggs. Adult female hard
ticks feed only once and lay one large batch of eggs, often containing as many as 10,000
or more. Some adult female soft ticks will feed several times and lay 20 to 50 eggs
after each meal. depending on such conditions as temperature and humidity, larvae
will hatch from the eggs in anywhere from two weeks to several months.

The first immature stage (larvae, which are many times called
seed
ticks) have only six legs. These larvae must find and attach themselves to
a host in order to get a blood meal. After obtaining this blood meal they usually
drop to the ground, shed their skin and emerge as 8-legged nymphs. Larvae of some
ticks which feed only on one host remain on the host to molt. Because of the
difficulty of finding a suitable host, larvae can withstand long periods without feeding.

Nymphs resemble the adult tick in that they have eight legs.
They do not, however, have a genital opening. Like the larva, the nymph must
be able to live without feeding for long periods of time until it finds a suitable host.
After finding a host and feeding, the nymph molts and becomes an adult tick.
Hard ticks have only one nymphal instar while soft ticks may have several. A few
ticks, such as the cattle, Boophilus annulatus, have only one
host and molt on it, leaving the host only to lay eggs.

Adult ticks may require several days of feeding before they are
able to reproduce. Male hard ticks usually die soon after mating, and females die
soon after laying their eggs. Adult soft ticks are generally longer-lived, and
egg-laying is a periodic activity of the female.

Most ticks spend the bulk of their life on or near the ground,
waiting for a suitable host animal. Since they cannot run, hop, fly or move quickly,
ticks must climb onto an appropriate object such as tall grass or weeds or up onto fences
and siding of buildings. It is from these advantageous positions that they wait for
a suitable host to pass by. When they detect vibrations and chemical cues such as
host odors or exhaled carbon dioxide, ticks will fall from their perch or stretch out
(holding on to their perch with only 2 or 4 of their rear legs) and hope to snag or attach
onto a passing host (e.g., a mammal with a fur coat or pants and socks worn by humans.)
Ticks are also capable of detecting shadows cast by a passing host. These
tick behaviors are important to understand and recognize in order to make thorough and
effective applications of acaricides, pesticide dusts or sprays labeled for eliminating
ticks and other arachnids. These behaviors also explain why ticks crawl up exterior
or interior surfaces of homes and often lodge in cracks and crevices below shingles,
clapboard siding, window molding, baseboards, etc. In these latter cases, you must
understand this aspect of tick behavior and carefully inspect and treat all these crack
and crevices with a good insecticide dust.

Most ticks will feed on blood from a wide variety of animals,
with only a few tick species feeding on but one kind of host. In some tick species
the immature stages will feed on different hosts than do the adults. reptiles,
amphibians, mammals and birds are all vertebrates which ticks may parasitize.
Migratory song birds regularly spread ticks across wide regions of the United States as
they move about enroute to their seasonal habitats.

Certain ticks carry the causal organisms of such diseases as
Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Lyme disease,
typhus, rickettsial pox, relapsing fever, tularemia, Colorado tick fever and Texas cattle
fever. Another health threat posed by certain ticks attacking humans and other
animals involves a poorly understood condition called "tick paralysis."
This occurs during the feeding process when the host is afflicted with a paralytic
condition, which develops gradually and may result in death. Paralytic symptoms
disappear rapidly upon removal of the tick and there seem to be no serious after effects.
Most of the tick problems which you might encounter are in and around homes, and do
not involve the disease-carrying species. Only those species likely to be
encountered around homes or other structures are described in this article. However, it is important to remember to save any tick that is
found attached to you or your family. Save the tick in a vial or Ziploc with a damp
cotton ball or paper towel. (This method keeps the tick alive longer or
hydrated. The tick can be tested for B. burgdorferi using the cheaper IFA test as
opposed to more expensive PCR test.)
If a rash (or other conditions develop) within the following four weeks, take the tick and
the person involved to a doctor.
Our thanks to David K. James, Alameda County Environmental Health, Vector Control District
for this information.Proper identification of the tick and timely
treatment is of utmost importance when dealing with organisms associated with ticks.
In areas where ticks are know to carry Lyme Disease, Maxforce
Tick Management devices can be placed outdoors to reduce the number of
infected ticks.

This is one of the most widely distributed ticks on the
world and there are records of its occurrence on a number of hosts. By far the most
common host is the domestic dog and the brown tick is virtually restricted to this host in
the United States. There are occasional collection records of people and domestic
cats as hosts, but these records are generally for instances where there has been close
contact with infested dogs. In other parts of the world, this tick seems to have a
somewhat wider range of hosts. Under normal circumstances in North America, all
feeding stages of the tick feed on dogs. The adults commonly attach to the ears and
between the toes, and the larvae and nymphs are often found in hair along the back.
While these developmental stages are often found on the indicated host body regions, they
are not restricted to these regions and may be found on practically any part of the dog's
body.

When individuals of each feeding stage become fully
engorged, they drop from the host and seek some protected situation in the immediate
surroundings. For this reason, all tick life stages may be found behind baseboards,
under window and door moldings, in window pulley openings or in furniture. Couple
this behavior with the climbing behavior of newly hatched larvae or other stages which
have not obtained a blood meal recently, and one can understand why nearly all cracks and
crevices in an infested premise must be carefully treated in order to obtain good tick
control. Homeowner calls usually occur in the late summer and fall when ticks are
encountered crawling on carpeting, walls and sometimes furniture.

Brown dog ticks can be found outdoors in the southern
United States during any time of the year, but are found outdoors during the warm months
in the northern United States. It is generally believed that this species of tick
cannot overwinter in the more northern United States except within a heated structure.

Adult male ticks are flat, about 1/8 inch long and
uniformly re-brown with tiny pits scattered over the back. They do not enlarge upon
feeding as do females Before feeding, adult female ticks resemble the males in size,
shape and color. As they feed, females become engorged and swell to 1/2 inch long
and 1/4 inch wide. The legs, mouthparts and shield area behind the head remain
red-brown, but the enlarged portion of the body becomes gray-blue to olive. The
red-brown color is distinctive and no other tick normally encountered will be
uniformly red-brown.

Egg-laying begins about three days after the engorged
adult female drops from the dog. She may deposit as many as 5,000 eggs in places
such as between boards, under plaster or carpeting, or in other cracks and crevices.
The eggs usually hatch in about three weeks, although up to several months may be
required under particularly cool or dry conditions. After hatching, the larvae wait
months while waiting for a host. Once on the host, the larvae feed for about three
days and then drop off. Molting occurs about one week after the blood meal, and
nymphs emerge to climb vegetation or vertical surfaces to again wait for a host. The
second feeding will last about four days, after which they again drop off, to molt into
the adult stage. Adults can live up to 1 1/2 years, without feeding, but must feed
before mating. After mating, the female completely engorges herself with blood and
then drops off the host to lay eggs.

A home can become heavily infested if the family dog picks
up ticks from an infested residence, during which time some ticks may drop off. In
this case, the home and yard may become infested even though a dog is not generally kept
there. Dogs do not become infested with brown dog ticks by direct contact with other
dogs. Ticks feeding on a dog drop off and molt before they will resume host-seeking
behavior and attach to another dog.

Dogs are the preferred host of adults of this tick
species, but they will also feed readily on many other large animals. Larvae and
nymphs of this species feed virtually exclusively on small, wild rodents. Newly
hatched larvae are yellow with red markings near the eyes, while engorged larvae are
slate-gray to black. Nymphs are similar in appearance to the larvae but have four
pairs of legs instead of three pairs. Adults are generally brown, but become
slate-gray when engorged.

This tick is a vector of the causal organism of Rocky
Mountain spotted fever and is one of the species commonly involved with tick paralysis.
This species is the most widely distributed tick of this genus in North America and
is the most commonly encountered by pest management professionals. It occurs
throughout the eastern and central United States.

As its common name suggests, this species is encountered
throughout the Rocky Mountain region, where it is the principal vector for Rocky Mountain
spotted fever. It is commonly involved with cases of tick paralysis.
Larvae and nymphs are generally found on small wild rodents, and the adults on
larger mammals. However, cases are known where all three life stages have been found
on medium-sized mammals such as jack rabbits. This species is a common problem for
campers and other vacationers in areas within its normal range.

This tick, known also as the chicken tick
and the "blue bug," is a soft tick common in poultry houses in
the southern and southwestern United States. It may injure or even kill chickens,
and may attack humans. It can be controlled in chicken houses and bird-roosting
areas by application of properly labeled insecticides such as Permethrin-10 concentrate or Permethrin Dust.

This group of soft ticks, which transmit the causal
organisms of relapsing fever, are sometimes found in buildings in the western and southern
United States. Control may be obtained with same insecticide materials used for
control of the fowl tick.